Opinion from a guy in the stands

Hitting back at the Daily Record – KT v McKay

I’m sure most have seen the Daily Record’s latest piece about Barrie McKay being the most gifted player in Scotland ahead of Kieran Tierney.

Now that you’ve all stopped laughing I’ll continue.
This piece is a by blogger Jonathan McFarlane and the bias is unbelievable. When I write something I’m safe in the knowledge that 99% of the audience is Celtic fans. This guy has made himself look stupid in front of an entire nation. Yes he’s a Rangers blogger – but surely there’s other ways of promoting your team without suggesting something so ridiculous. Well… maybe not considering…
Barrie McKay is by all admissions a decent player. I don’t think any would grudge him of that. However, that’s all he is. The best player in an incredibly average team.
If McKay signed for Celtic he’d be a great addition… to the bench.
I’m firmly of the opinion that he wouldn’t dislodge Sinclair, Roberts, Rogic, Brown or Armstrong. Absolutely not.

As I write this I’m struggling to find the various media reports from around Europe crediting interest in McKay from Bayern Munich, Man United & Chelsea. Tierney on the other hand… You get the idea.

The article also states that Europe’s biggest clubs are finally starting to look into Scottish football for the talent we have.
They’re chasing Tierney & Dembele – no mention of anyone else.

The article states

He glides with the ball, moving past players effortlessly with his low centre of gravity and agility key attributes. He has a wonderful range of passing, his first touch is exquisite and his slight frame masks an explosive shot

Now to me, he’s just described Patrick Roberts. One was bought by Man City for £12m. In the same season the other was shipped out on loan to Raith Rovers.

So let’s talk about KT. I’m not lucky enough to remember the McGrains of the world. The earliest I can remember are Boyd & McNamara. Both great Celts, but Tierney is showing far greater potential than they ever did. We also haven’t had any better since. As we know, Celtic weren’t great in the 90’s. Tierney is arguably the best left back we’ve had in 30 years… AND HE’S 19!!
The modern game has evolved to the point that full-backs are primarily attacking commodities with defensive responsibilities. Cast your mind to the best teams in world football at the moment – how many have full-backs that can actually defend?
Tierney has the defensive qualities of an old school left back, whilst possessing the attacking prowess of the more modern player. He’s blessed with pace, power and is the best crosser of the ball in the Celtic team – if not the whole of Scotland. He’d put most wingers to shame.
That’s why Brendan Rodgers said Tierney can go to the very top.
As I’ve mentioned, McKay is a decent player but how many carbon copies of him are there? Literally hundreds. A lot of them play in the English Championship.
How many Kieran Tierney’s are out there? Exactly.

I’m not really into slagging off players. I’d rather talk them up.
So if Jonathan McFarlane ever reads this, why not take the following point from this.
Regardless of who you’re hired to promote, You can talk up your own player without trying to bring down another. It’s snacks of desperation. Why claim ‘Rangers have a player better than one Celtic have’? It’s immature and quite frankly, not even a valid point to argue.

Dont get me wrong McKay had a decent game v Lustig in last Celtic v rangers game but prior to that the rangers fans werent impressed.going so far as to want him sold.Kieran on the other hand has been consistently good and has ACTUALLY attracted interest from the big teams

Like you say one decent game against us rest of the time slightly above the average of the rest of the sevco team but thats no saying much you just have to laugh thats all i do the proof is in the pudding as they say. Mind the gap

When Brendon put his hand round him and offered condolences after we beat them on hogmany, the media have took our manager kindness as an endorsement of his ability, and have now elevated him to scotland brightest talent !!!!!! Level 5 at its best

RB Leipzig have NOT I repeat NOT made any enquiry let alone made an offer or a bid for Barry McKay
This has come straight from the boy’s father who works with my partner He shot the story or the not story down in flames
I phoned Clyde Open Line this evening to tell them as much but didn’t get a call back
I reckon I imparted to much information the the guy who vets the calls and he must have reckoned what I was going to say would have pulled the plus on what was only talking point on their programme this evening
Why deal in facts when hypothesis and hearsay have more intrigue?

Let’s not get overly concerned with any player from Sevco
They are a bad lot who mostly flatter to deceive
Their leadership is non existent preferring to remain some 6000 miles away enjoying a Southern Hemisphere summer rather than pitching up to help try and steady a drifting vessel
Their management is floundering around looking for convenient excuses to appease their followers
‘Financial disparity’ ‘unlucky’ ‘new signings need time to bed in’ ‘the gap is narrowing’ ‘It’s the fault of Charles Green and Mike Ashley who have put a stranglehold on our commercial revenue income’
When your best defender is a 38 year old and your best striker is a 37 year old it doesn’t exactly leave a lot of room for development does it?
Now we have to listen to the cHUNterings of demented imbeciles such as ‘Red Bull will buy us’ ‘There were some Arabs seen in Govan’ ‘Wait until March I have it on good authority….’ ‘in the circles I move in at Ibrox they are saying……’
As a regular listener to Clyde1 Open Line of an evening I laugh at the incessant ramblings of Sevco callers to the show who seem to have totally lost their grip on reality coming out with statements such as ‘If we buy 4 or 5 £5 million signings we’ll be up challenging again’ or ‘We should play the best young boys from the Academy and when they show what they can do sell them on for a vast profit and replace them with real quality’
As if all of this could be achieved overnight Even if it could would Dave King release his grip on the funds to plough the proceeds back into the team’?
In fairness one or two of the Sevco minded callers to the programme have just about wakened up the the reality of their club’s situation and come to terms with the fact that they are skint with very little hope of financial salvation but they appear to be in a vast minority’
I myself had the temerity to call the programme just before Christmas to make a suggestion about how they might secure funding
I had read that Mike Ashley had that morning sold one of his Companies to a Japanese firm for £125 million and I suggested that they might try to bury the hatchet and go to him for a borrow
Okay it was rather tongue in cheek but the fall out was seismic Alex Rae who was a guest co presenter was almost in tears as he responded to my point saying ‘I can’t understand why supporters of other clubs can be so happy when they see our plight especially the crippling deal for jersies which Green signed with Ashley giving Sevco a mere 4 pence in the pound income for the sale of our own shirts’ Now this was the same Alex Rae who had just been replaced as St Mirren manager I was left wondering where the ‘our own shirts’ term eminated from?
I pointed to the fact that only some 22 years previously Rangers fans were taking great delight that Celtic were only a couple of hours away from extinction and Rae seemed to accept my point but countered ‘Okay I can understand why Celtic fans might be enjoying the current situation but I can’t understand why supporters of any other Scottish club would feel so elated’ as if Rangers or their followers were giving a toss about the rest of Scottish football when they were inflicting an unfair advantage over the rest of Scottish football by using
EBTs thus avoiding paying the taxes which most other companies and individuals pay as a matter of routine
There I believe is the very essence of Sevco’s current situation
Yes Rangers went into administration then liquidated reformed as a tribute act and placed in the lowest tier of senior Scottish football but this tribute act and it’s followers in my opinion still fail to see or comprehend the extent of the damage they did and the animosity that their actions has brought them
Sure if Rangers had gotten away with it they’d have been Jack the Lads Cheeky Chappies as it were
BUT they didn’t get away with it They were caught ‘fun oot’ in Govan parlance and have been shown to be the shysters that they truly are or were to be exact
Sevco fans just cannot accept that Rangers did wrong and I personally don’t think the majority of them ever will
Until acceptance of previous misdemeanours is acknowledged by them then the healing and reintegration process cannot be fully instigated